100 Most Popular Foreign-Language Films of 2019
Our year in review party . A different list each day! Here's Nathaniel R...
With Parasite sucking up so much awards oxygen, it's easy to let the good news slip by that it was hardly the only great film out there that played with subtitles. Pedro Almodóvar and Zhang Yimou's return to triumphant form (and box office success) with Pain & Glory and Shadow, respectively, were just two of many other goodies that delighted cinephiles and critics at movie theaters and festivals this year.
Yes, it's time for our annual look back at international non-English language fare in cinemas. [For comparisons sake here are the lists from 2018, 2017 and 2016] For the purposes of the following list we skipped documentaries and animated films to keep the list more focused (and avoid arguments about dubbed versions or whatnot). Please note: This list does not include Portrait of a Lady on Fire since it's not getting a proper release until 2020. It made a very strong $118k in its Qualifying Week before getting pulled.
TOP 100 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS OF 2019
Domestic Box Office Grosses Only - Figures as of March 12th, 2020
🔺= still in theaters | ★ = TFE recommends
01 ★🔺 Parasite (Neon, South Korea, October 11th) $53.1
Bong Joon-ho's Palme D'Or winner took American arthouse theaters by storm and expanded beautifully through word of mouth and aggressive smart publicity from Neon, making it the biggest foreign hit in the States since Hero (2002/2004)...